Mia Turner begrudgingly made her way down the stairs of the dark movie theater. Her best friend Emily had gotten the soda refilled the last time they saw a movie together, so it was only fair for Mia to retrieve the next. Clutching the large cup of soda in hand, she made her way to the front concession stand. As usual, the back, and closest, concession stand was closed. With the sounds booming behind the closed doors of the other movies playing, Mia didn’t think much of the flickering lights. Besides, no one else seemed to notice.

“Refill please.” She says, handing the boy behind the counter her empty cup. The boy smiled. “What kind did you want?” he asked. “Uh…Root Beer.” Said Mia. The boy smiled and nodded as he made his way back to refill the cup. Once again, however, the theater dimmed. Once, twice…three times the lights flickered this time, only they went on and off for a good full second or two, unlike the last time. Glancing about again, no one seemed to notice, so she figured it was another glitch with the electronics running throughout the joint. Before she knew it, the boy was handing her the soda, and Mia was on her way.

After the movie was over, she and her friend walked out puzzled. The movie wasn’t too bad until the very end and most of the audience left the theater practically scratching their heads. As usual, the girls stopped in front of the bathrooms to chat with some of their other friends from school. Friday nights at the movie theater was popular for high school students, it seemed, and the theater was close enough to the for the kids to walk there right from school. Most of the friends she ran into were still in their uniforms even.

“Hey, Mia. Wait here. I have to go to the bathroom. Be out in a sec.” Emily called as she and some of the girls jogged toward the bathrooms. Mia waved toward her as she continued her conversation with the remaining girls. Once again, however, the lights flickered. Only, this time, everything fell dark for a while and when everything settled, her friends were gone.

“Hey, kid. We’re getting ready to close.” Said one of the employees. Dazed and confused, Mia looked around. “Huh?”

The gentleman let out an exasperated sigh as he continued on his way. “Oh. I’m sorry! I just need to go check on my friend if that’s okay.” The guy simply shrugged as he walked off. As she made her way toward the bathrooms, Mia’s confusion was replaced with heart pounding dread. Picking up her pace, she pushed through the narrow, tiled hall until she reached the open bathroom area.

“Emily?” she meekly called out. “Emily…where are you?” For the fourth time that evening, the lights flickered until going out completely. “Emm…?” she whispered. Despite the unnerving dark however, every other sense was heightened. Her arms and legs were littered with goosebumps, and she was certain the stiff hairs along the back of her neck would be visible to all. She took a few more steps before letting out the shiver she could no longer contain. The temperature dropped to below freezing, she could have sworn.

“It’s not funny.” She said, through clattering teeth. Then, suddenly, the lights jolted back on. With a sigh of relief, she began to press on. As she made her way toward the stalls, however, she smelt it. At first, she thought maybe Emily had been hiding so she could smoke her cigarette. It was a habit she wished she would quit, but she always knew the smell that comes right after a match has been lit. It was distinct. However, as Mia drew even closer, the smell got worse. If she never knew what rotting, burned flesh smelled like before, she did now, that was for sure. Instinctively, Mia put her sweater to her mouth, covering her nose as well.

“This way…” came a faint whisper from behind. “Not funny, Emmy!” Mia shrieked. Now, she was truly terrified. Once again, the voice cooed from behind her. Spinning around, there was no one in sight. Something was wrong. Mia knew that. Mia knew that the moment the lights started flickering earlier. She just didn’t want to believe it. As she heard the voice for a third time, she spun around again, violently this time.

Not again…she thought to herself. I thought they went away….

The monsters. When she was a child, she created some wild nightmares. So she thought they were. Nightmares didn’t leave bruises in the morning or scratch marks. They especially didn’t leave enough marks to warrant the state to take her away from her family. Nightmares didn’t do that…

As the memories began flooding back, she heard a loud thump in one of the stalls. Not knowing where she found her courage, Mia kicked open the door, only to see a dark, motionless lump. As she stared, the added smell of copper sickened her even more. And there was another figure. Hovering over what she finally recognized as her friend. She couldn’t see anything more than a dark blob, but it let out a shriek so bloodcurdling that she nearly passed out. But not before it darted straight toward her….

Hey everyone! FX and I felt like doing a new story, for shits and giggles. This is meant to be something fun, not too serious. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join. Extra input and imagination is also most welcome. Figured it was time to get back into bringing stories to life within a group, rather than my own personal endeavors. Nothing wrong with collaboration for us twenty-somethings, especially if it’s a chance to showcase new and improved skills in character designing, writing, and just general collaboration of ideas.

The premise so far is basic. Don’t worry about a backstory here. I just wanted everyone to get a basic idea of what we were thinking here. Just add a character profile here and I'll kick things off in a new thread once I have a few here. PM me for ideas on any sort of NPCs anyone would like to add, just so I can make sure everyone stays on the same page and this doesn’t turn into a clusterfuck. But, this takes place at a college every main character is somehow connected to. Be it as a student, faculty member, staff member…just make sure it makes sense for them to be there, is all. And if we don’t get much age variation, we can work with that too, so no need to force anything. Your character is a normal human being in many ways, except for one: They can see things that not everyone else can and their extra sensory abilities make them highly sought after creatures. Since the recording of human memory, there has always been a balance between the seen and unseen. Just like our society, not everything is bad…not everything gives a shit about being beyond indifferent and just trying to do their job…but sometimes…the things that go bump in the night are very real. I’m not talking Frankenstein and the like. The challenge here is to mix realism with imagination. Things don’t magically happen. For example, if I were to believe in “ghosts” and that they could physically contact or mark the living, there’d obviously be some very realistic and possibly devastating consequences, as already insinuated in the opener above. I have a few monsters in mind that I’ve created, but as the DM, essentially, I want to keep some surprises for everyone else.

But essentially, you are caught in that veil between life and death. The seen and unseen. The fathomable and the unfathomable.

Pending on how popular this becomes and how many people/characters we get here, I will of course run this accordingly. For now, let’s have fun in the simplicity. Use your imagination. PMs will be encouraged for any major sort of ideas.

Name: Frank Cornelius
Age: 65
Occupation: Janitor
History: Born and raised in the Midwest, Frank joined the military as a chaplain during Vietnam. He served faithfully through the United States' occupation, but after his enlistment ended he found his faith -- in God as well as the human spirit -- shattered. He tried to live a life apart from his experiences, but never managed to find a place that he fit in, instead constantly moving from job to job, home to home, life to life.

The alarm clock bleated at her from the bedside table as Ally stared at her guest. His face translucent, yet so expressive as he described a skirmish that occurred in what was now the park outside her window during the Revolution. The blood still coated his jacket, a darker blue stain surrounding the whole where a musket had struck.

"Alexander," she broke in, "I'm terribly sorry to stop you, as this story is fascinating, but I really must get ready for class."

"Class," the spirit looked at her with a confused expression, "Oh, you mean your daily lessons! Why don't I wait here so I may escort you?"

Ally gave the ghost a wan smile, but shook her head. "I need to bathe first, and since this is such a tiny place I am sure you understand that your remaining would be... indecent."

"Oh," Alexander blushed, "Of course, I apologize if I offended you with my suggestion. I shall call on you this evening, then. Farewell, Miss Jacobson." He stood, made a formal bow, and walked through her apartment door.

It was always so easy to deal with the older male spirits, just threaten to undress and they practically flew from the room.

Wearily, Ally drug herself from the bed she had been sitting on. She'd managed about an hour of sleep before he'd arrived and woken her... at least it was something. The timer on the coffee pot had just gone off, so she'd have a fresh cup once she got out of the shower. It was the small things like that which made the day bearable.

On the plus side, she now had a new source of information for her paper she was writing for her Local History class. Dr. Garvey loved Revolutionary history, so Ally was sure it would be another solid A+ for her.

"Yippie," she muttered sarcastically. All she cared about right now was a nice shower to help her fight off her exhaustion.

Martin is a professor at the college. His class: "How to Teach Photoshop to the Elderly". He lives in an apartment with his 78 year old father, Jim, whom he takes care of. Four years ago, Martin's wife, Linda, passed away in a motor vehicle accident while taking the bus to her sister's house. Ever since, Martin will not use public transportation, and has become severely depressed. Recently, Martin's pet cat, Sumo (whom he bought for Linda many years ago), has also passed away, and it seems that his father is soon to be next. Martin gets therapy and medication for his depression, and that keeps him from quitting his job. For the past two years that he has been teaching at the college, Martin has developed a monthly routine. On the first Friday night of each month, he helps his father to bed, then pours himself a bottle of scotch and watches his wife's favorite movie: "Untamed Heart". At the end of the credits, he promptly walks to his room, shuts the door and attempts to kill himself. He can never follow through. There is a warm presence there that embraces him, melting away his resolve. He is almost sure that there is someone there with him. In fact, Martin wonders if he does all this to himself just so that he can prompt the intervention of this presence, and feel it's warmth once again, however briefly.